In order to achieve higher speeds in cigarette packing machines it is desirable that as many parts of the machine as possible should operate continuously rather than intermittently. In particlular it is desirable that the conveyor in which the groups of cigarettes are assembled into bundles for subsequent wrapping should run at a constant speed. The present invention is particularly but not exclusively concerned with arrangements suitable for feeding cigarettes to such a conveyor, particularly from a hopper or other region in which the cigarettes have no transverse movement.